Around the World in 11 Research Flights: Behind the Scenes of the ATom Mission

Released on October 5, 2017

For the Atmospheric Tomography (ATom) mission, researchers and flight technicians from NASA and its partners are flying around the world, collecting atmospheric samples and studying air quality.

This is the the third ATom campaign, studying the atmosphere during autumn in the northern hemisphere.

ATom campaigns last a long time -- almost a full month -- and require the researchers and crew to travel the whole time. Rather than work from one static location, the ATom team uses NASA's DC-8 flying laboratory as a home base.

Atmospheric scientist Róisín Commane and ATom principal investigator Steven Wofsy gave a look behind the scenes at a month on a research plane.